MTU men and MNU women win CCSA championships

CCSA

Tue, Feb
16, 2010 - By Dylan Dethier

ISHPEMING, Mich.—Day two of the CCSA championships brought more excitement and a shuffle in results. The 15/20k freestyle competition took place for the second consecutive day at the Al Quaal Recreation Area in Ishpeming, Michigan. Alaska’s Aurelia Korthauer was an individual winner for the 2nd consecutive day to lead the female Nanooks to a strong team performance. Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Santiago Ocariz continued his dominance in freestyle events by winning the men’s race. The Michigan Tech men and Northern Michigan women were the champions for the weekend.

In the women’s 15k race, Alaska senior Korthauer (38:19) skied away with another victory and was the first of four Alaska women in the top 6 to take top team honors on the day. Anna Coulter (38:46), Julia Pierson (38:47), and Theresia Schnurr (38:59) took spots 4-6 for the Nanooks, who scored 83 points on the day. NMU was 2nd on the day with 80 points behind a 2nd-place finish from Monica Markvardsen (38:35) and Saturday’s runner-up Christina Gillis (38:45) in 3rd. Marie Helen Soderman (39:19) in 9th was the third Wildcat scorer. Henna Riikonen-Purtsi (39:02) in 7th was the top skier for 3rd-place Michigan Tech. Jenna Klein (41:20) in 16th and Jaclyn Pribyl (42:06) in 20th brought the MTU women a total of 61 points on the day.

Eleanor Magnuson (39:17) led the College of St. Scholastica from 8th place. Julia Curry (40:32) in 13th helped bring CSS into 4th place on the day. Carolyn Freeman (39:31) of Wisconsin-Green Bay was 10th to lead the Phoenix, while teammate Lindsey Marshall (41:13) was 15th. Christi Nowak (41:43) led the College of St. Benedict from 18th. Erica Hett (42:25) of Gustavus Adolphus was in 22nd to lead the Gusties. Emma Lee (42:46) was the first St. Olaf skier across the line, finishing in 26th. Hannah Sanborn (43:17) of St. Cloud State led her team from 27th.

Men's race

If the women’s race was one dominated by two teams near the top, the men’s race was the very picture of parity, with each of the first 6 finishers coming from a different school. Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Santiago Ocariz was dominant in the 20k freestyle race, finishing 80 seconds ahead of runner-up Oskar Lund. Ocariz, a senior at UWGB, completed the course in 48 minutes, 42 seconds. Lund (50:02), a senior at Michigan Tech, was Saturday’s winner and led the Husky men to 2nd place on the day and 1st on the weekend. Kevin Cutts (50:56) was the top Northern Michigan skier and 3rd overall finisher. Teammates George Cartwright (51:18), yesterday’s runner-up, was 7th, and Chris Bowler (51:31) snagged 10th to lead the Wildcats as the top men’s team on the day with 73 points.

Mason Bacso (51:04) was the best College of St. Scholastica skier on what was a phenomenal day for the Saints with a 5th-place finish. Waylon Manske (51:26) was 9th and Jeremy Hecker (52:05) 12th to put CSS in 3rd place on the day. Jens Brabbit (51:02) was 4th, leading Gustavus Adolphus, which also received a 14th from Anders Bowman (52:17). John Parry (51:15) was tops for Alaska, finishing in 6th, while teammates Alex Morris (52:15, 13th) and Henri Soom (52:34, 15th) also cracked the top 15.

Grant Cook (53:02) posted a strong result, 17th, for St. John’s, who also put Trevor Drake and Jared Sundstrom in the top 30. St. Olaf’s skier Tom Jorgenson (54:19) was 21st to pace his team.

Team scores

For the weekend, Michigan Tech was the top men’s team with 155 points, led by Oskar Lund with a 1st and a 2nd. Second was Northern Michigan with 150 points behind the efforts of a strong group of underclassmen, including George Cartwright and Kevin Cutts. Alaska snagged 3rd with 124 points, holding off the College of St. Scholastica, whose strong freestyle race jumped them into 4th with 116 points. Santiago Ocariz powered UW-GB into a close 5th (112 pts) ahead of Gustavus Adolphus (100), St. John’s (68), and St. Olaf’s (63).

The Northern Michigan women took first with 162 points, buoyed by Christina Gillis and her two top-3’s, a leader on a team that is both strong and deep. Alaska put 3 in the top 5 and was the top women’s team in Sunday’s freestyle race, but fell just shy of the top spot and was 2nd with 158 points. Michigan Tech followed in 3rd with 120 points, ahead of Wisconsin-Green Bay (110), College of St. Scholastica (100), College of St. Benedict (92), Gustavus Adolphus (70), St. Olaf’s (52), and St. Cloud State (50).

Combined team results put Northern Michigan in 1st for the weekend with 312 points. Alaska was 2nd with 282, and Michigan Tech was 3rd with 275. Complete team results are listed below.